Year 3, October 19th-21st, 2018: Restful Days

Friday, I had a major episode of vertigo, leading to sleeping in until 10 and taking a nap in the afternoon because of the medications I take.  It was awful.  So I declared today a rest day and we'll hit the ground running on Justin's clothes tomorrow.  I did do normal chores and a little bit of school, I just took everything slower than normal.  Benaiah worked his new shift of 8am-4pm, so he could be home with us this evening, yeah!  Benaiah's clothes got washed and put away.  Lots of leftovers were eaten.  And lots of Paw Patrol was watched by Abishai, who fell asleep to it.  We got to see Grandma's new car, too!  We were supposed to go to park day, but God had other plans, and I'm kind of glad.  We need these days at home and I needed to rest.  Just putting one foot in front of the other.  Oh, and Keturah thoroughly cleaned her room with the vacuum cleaner.  She still has more organizing to do, which I need to help with, but she tried to do what she could.  Justin spent a lot of time reading a very thick book for school.  And Jared did his normal day of pastor's group at Panera at 6 am and then work for the whole day.  Pretty normal.  Now my head hurts from trying to get my eyes to focus and my neck and shoulders hurt from keeping my head in certain positions so I don't get dizzy.  It's been an interesting ride today, but I'm thankful we could rest.

Abishai was snuggling me, trying to make me feel better, and he said, "Look, Mom, the sky is red!"  I turned over enough to see this beautiful sunrise.  One of the youth minster guys got some great video of it with his drone, too, and put it on Instagram.  I got up too quickly to get this picture and nearly threw up from the nausea from my vertigo.  Lesson learned: look up and admire without taking pictures!

My snuggle buddy!

Eating breakfast in bed.

After a full morning of going from person to person asking them to play with him, he fell asleep watching his favorite show, Paw Patrol with the snow episodes.

He was literally running circles and it was causing me to feel dizzy and nauseous so I had the one of the other kids take him to a different room while I worked with the other one.  Precious baby!

Watching old loonie toons from the 1940's or even earlier!  They didn't make sense actually and they were pretty violent.  But, we saw how they incorporated things from WWII era like bomb raids and victory gardens so that was interesting.

Abishai needed to play with his best playmate, Daddy!  And of course in his underwear, lol.

Lots of pocos for a bedtime snack!

 On Saturday, we went through all of Justin's clothes, and ended up going through or reorganizing Jared's and Benaiah's clothes, too.  You see, Justin's in between sock sizes, so he's going to have to share socks with Benaiah.  I had to figure out a way to rearrange Benaiah's clothes to accomodate some gym shorts and his new hoodies he's bought over the last 6 months.  Jared's clothes needed to be rearranged according to season and because, well, boys are messy.  But it's all done!  I still have to make my long sleeve shirts more accessible and put away some short sleeve (everything is stored between Keturah's and I's closet) and I should be ok with mine for now.  I'll mess with Keturah's again when we go thoroughly through her room over Christmas break.  She's spent the last couple of days "organizing it" and cleaning it, but she really doesn't have a clue as to "all the Barbies should go here" and "all the Legos should go there."  I'm sure we will find more of her clothes when we do that.  But for now, projects are done.  I will need to get the boxes of unneeded clothes properly wrapped secured and into the shed ready for a later date.  Overall, it was a slow and steady, feeling pretty decent kind of day.  And I know the average mom can punch through all the kids' clothing in under a day's time, but this mama's got brain fog and and physical fatigue and it just takes her longer to do anything.  It all gets done, eventually!

Jared spent the day in one of our backyard trees trimming more branches off of it, and just in the nick of time because they had fungus growing on them and the winds have been gusting at 40-50mph!  In fact, the new shed doors were nearly ripped off their hinges!  I was very sad to see that through my sunroom window.  Jared got them better secured for now.  The wind should die down overnight, but the temperatures are going to descend into below freezing!  And we will be colder than Charlottetown, PEI!  That's crazy!  No wonder Gary had said we might see a few flakes of snow this weekend!  I didn't go through the coats yet, but that's pretty easy.  And everyone currently has shoes or can share boots.  Abishai spent a good portion of the day wearing boots and a hoodie and working alongside Daddy.  Justin was with or was reading his book for school.  Keturah was in her room.  And Benaiah joined us for a bit, played his video game and left for work.  And then tomorrow is Sunday again, time to prepare for the week of full time school.  Fall break is over, kids!

Um, that's the wrong child in that there toddler bed.  How'd he squeeze in there? Miah!  You're gonna break it!  He had gotten kicked out of his bed because we were working on clothes.

Nope, he didn't actually fit.  Look at those big hobbit feet!

And then they just had to go and be brothers....always wrestling.  Abishai has a pretty mean whacking arm though.

Is that how you use a light saber?  In Abishai's world it is!

This jar is nearly 3 years old, a remnant of Canada, and I kind of want to keep it!  I can't drink ovaltine anymore because it has malt in it.

And the remnants were rock solid, dried out, something.  We tried breaking it apart with a knife (those the lighter colored marks) and it wouldn't break apart and it took a lot of hot water to melt it out!

A perfect place for a nap!  Yes, Abishai has no socks and shoes on, again.  He's such an outdoors guy!

Yes, husband is up in the tree, again.  He made "steps" for himself by screwing pieces of wood into the tree.  And then he puts fungus repellent/preventative in the holes when he unscrews the pieces of wood and leaves a gaping hole.  Tree hugger to the max.

Abishai helped Daddy by using the "nippers" aka pliers to try and pull nails and things out of the wood.

We know he won't get it done, but he certainly tries!

As a vlogger calls her golden retriever, "Gorgeous Beast," so is this guy an old, gorgeous beast.  I try to take pics of him every so often in case we lose him (again) and have to find a picture quickly for social media.  He's 8 1/2 yrs old, so he doesn't try many tricks anymore.  He does however, thoroughly enjoy this kind of fall weather!  He's begged to go outside more often than wanting to be back inside.  If he's ready to come in, he'll lay down on the porch.  But he did make himself a nest in the empty flower bed next to the sunroom.  Silly goose of a dog.

Jared took this picture from high atop the tree.  Oh...my...word....I couldn't do it and really, he should NOT be doing it either.  We will probably take down the trampoline during the first weekend of November, just like I thought we should/would.  The problem though, is that I won't have a place for Abishai to get rid of some of his energy!  Hm,....

Oh, no! Dan's beautifully made door!  The wind knocked over the boards that were leaning against it, and then pried open the door, which was then only held by a short board.  Jared put two huge boards across it to seal it up for now.  Unfortunately, I still have things to rotate in and out of the shed, but that will have to wait until a calmer day.  Bummers!

Indianapolis forecast for Sunday morning.  Brrr!!!!!

Charlottetown forecast for Sunday morning.  Brrr!!!!!  But not as much brrr as Indy!

Remember, we don't do Halloween so it's ok to skip some of the fall stuff.  And often in New Hampshire and PEI, it's cold enough to have had the first snow by the time it's American Thanksgiving.  Just because winter has arrived, doesn't mean we skipped Thanksgiving! Lots of kids have to wear winter gear to stay warm if they trick or treat on PEI.  It's the normal thing to do there.  So, who else is ready?

P.S. Benaiah just came home and told me they had a FIRE in one of the fryers tonight!  They had shut it off and went to clean it, but they think the brush caught on fire.  They were able to put out most of it, but two spots still took 20 minutes to burn out.  Plus, it was just two of them in the back in this particular area and it was a very busy evening.  He did submit his application for team leader though.  He's pretty pumped about climbing the corporate ladder.  Good on him!  One of the best lines of dialogue he overheard from one of his coworkers was when a "rough" edged employee went to say, "Oh My God" and caught himself in front of a team leader who is very overtly Christian and changed his saying to "Oh my Lord and Savior."  Yup, he tried to save himself and made it worse.  Made for a great inside joke though.  And at least he tried! Oh the things that happen in the real world.  Sigh.

Sunday - Bonfire Nerf Wars Fortnite Battle Royale

Normal Funday Sunday! Yeah!  Except the older boys' groups had fun nights instead of the normal worship/sermon and small groups.  The high schoolers met a sponsor's house for a bonfire, live music, hayride, kind of night.  And the middle schoolers took over the east hall and chapel to have their Fortnite Battle Royale themed Nerf Wars.  Oh my goodness did those middle schoolers go all out with their costumes and loved every minute of it!  Ok, some kids couldn't care less, but still, Justin had a decent time.  He tried to learn some dance moves for the dance off, but was underappreciated for his efforts.  His youth leader Luke liked this mask, but no one else really noticed him.  And he struck out at nerf wars pretty quickly.  What is nerf wars and fortnite and should you care?  No, you shouldn't care much about it because it's just a fad and this generation's cultural thing.  Just like (insert fad in your generation, but all I can think of is My Little Pony and Transformers which is for the younger kids in the 80's, not middle schoolers or high schoolers).  Well, Nerf guns have been around forever, and now there are some epic battles that kids still play with them.  The church provided the guns this time, and of course all the bullets.  But some kids played video games or talked or played nine square or gaga ball.  It was crazy loud and crazy fun from my point of view in Jared's office.  Abishai and Jared had gone home after dropping off Justin and Bryce (who had visited us for the afternoon) and Benaiah.

Ok, that was the evening activities.  I feel hyped up on too much caffeine and from talking passionately with a couple of friends today on topics I'm very opinionated about, so I try to wrap this up.  Keturah had her long day of being on the worship team for the preschoolers this evening, as well as going to two services and choir rehearsal.  Abishai, well, is Abishai, and he has new friend "Baby 8" to play with (see pics below).  I don't think any of us are really ready to get back into school tomorrow, but away we go!  Keturah has her first basketball clinic on Saturday, while I'm at Benaiah's "Corn-a-pa-looza" event at his school and he's at work.  That means Jared gets to play soccer dad, again, lol.  I don't like driving and making those drop off and pick up runs, so it's the easiest thing for him to help with.  I'd prefer to work on things at home.  Full regular week this week, including a family hike on Friday hopefully!  I'm pretty stoked for that because Benaiah took off work and is excited about it.  I think we will leave Abishai with Grandma so we can enjoy a moderately long hike through the fall foliage.  We'll see!  Hang on tight, it's going to be a wild week I'm sure!

Abishai's new friend!  "Baby 8" as he calls him.  His real name is "BB-8" from the newest Star Wars trilogy.  BB-8 needed some new stitching to keep his head in place and I finally sewed him up.  I had no idea he would become Abishai's new best friend as evidenced below.

Abishai insisted that Baby 8 was served real food for breakfast.

The bedhead game is strong with this one!

Then Baby 8 came along with us on our ride to church.  He stayed inside the car but came and had lunch with us at Grandma's house.

I said, "Don't take my picture! Charge!"  His hair was all static and sticking straight up so I had to capture it.  Crazy little guy!  He's become very rough lately, bossy, and "I have to be first" at everything.  He's had several time outs lately, too.  Typical preschooler but we have to nip this in the bud now.  But that face says it all!

Take a picture of my hair, too, Mommy!  You can barely see it, but yes, her hair was sticking out sideways.

Protection from the balls they throw at each other on the trampoline.

I love how our church makes every effort to get kids involved in serving at a very young age!  Some kids even prayed over the Thanksgiving baskets.  The 4th and 5th graders put grocery lists and instructions in each of probably 400 tubs.

Bryce as a lifeguard and Justin as, I have no idea what.

This is all the middle schoolers.  That means 6th-8th grader here in the midwest.  Yes, there's a ton of them.  And lots of great costumes.

Not quite teenagers, but not little kids anymore either.  Sigh.

She can't wait to join them next year!

Yes, an adult dressed as a dinosaur with a unicorn head on a stick.  Yes, it's a character in the Fortnite game.  Yes, it's ridiculous.  Although, our friend Cordelia Wagar made herself a costume of the colorful llama from the game.  It should have won!  It was incredible!

Yes, I play this on my phone and it's time to celebrate because I finally beat this championship and had 3 Yahtzees!

I caught a glimpse of choir rehearsal tonight.  I'm sad that we only have this musical and one more in the spring and then Keturah moves on.  It will be another 2 or so years before Abishai joins them.  You have to be in Kindergarten to join them.  He's going to love it though!

Even Baby 8 needs his teeth brushed!

Just something to consider.  I love fall, but hate Halloween for many reasons.  Bring on Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Abishai and his new friend Baby 8 all tucked in.  So adorable!  BB-8 really belongs to Justin but Abishai is allowed to borrow him.  So sweet!

There's Justin on stage for either the costume contest or the dance off.

And, if you think we have a lot of middle schoolers, here's our high schoolers!  Crazy big group!  Bigger than most churches!  Fantastic group of people with fantastic caring leaders.  These, my friends, are the people who are the Church's next leaders and members.  If you don't pour into them, the Church will die out.  We work hard partnering with the youth ministry staff to raise servant leaders, paid or unpaid, within our ranks.  I LOVE that about our church.  It's not all fun and games to them, there's a deeper purpose to all of this.  And I'll share more of that when I put together a separate post about Benaiah's NYC mission experience.  Ah, my heart is full.